From the brewery: This special edition is a full bodied and distinctive strong beer developed within the abbey to celebrate and honour the 150th anniversary of the brewery. Produced with 100% natural ingredients,its pale golden robe and champagne sparkle is topped by a rich white head of foam. The distinctive bouquet evokes the rich fruity and complex notes of the Chimay yeast in harmony with a delicate spicy note and the fragrance of fresh noble hops. At 10% alcohol, the flavour is full bodied and complex with a slight but refreshing tang note and a crisp hop finish that will delight the palate.

Reviews by IronDjinn:

From a 750 ml brown bottle, caged and corked. Pours out a cloudy apricot hue, suspended particles present. Tall creamy white head on the pour with good retention, and settles eventually to a thick cap.

Bright citrus and orchard fruit on the nose, dry neutral phenols in the background, and some mild yeasty twang.

Phenols take a more prominent role within the flavour, greeting the palate right from the start. Dry peppery character, followed by very mild sweet orchard fruit esters, then drying out quickly again for the finish. Dry peppery finish, which seems to be the overall motif of the flavour.

Medium-full bodied mouthfeel, full creamy texture, with some effervescent carbonation that gives everything a lift.

Enjoyable, although you need to be in the high phenol camp when it comes to Tripels to fully get the most out of it. I'm not fully in that camp but can enjoy this for what it is and what it pulls off. A solid offering regardless, and the quality and ability is apparent.

More User Reviews:

3.9/5 rDev -6.5%

From BeerAdvocate magazine Issue #70 (November 2012):

Bold, you could say a bit brash as well with the boozy character but that could be expected from a 10.0%abv Tripel. The yeast sure had one hell of a party, complexities are off the charts. Any true beer geek will want to grab more than just on bottle, we have a feeling it could age quite well. One can only wish that this was not a limited brew.

Spéciale Cent Cinquante opens to a fruity, spice nose immediately marked by banana and clove Belgian notes. The fruits in here are full and rounded, with bananas, pineapples, mandarin oranges, pears, apples, cherries, and even touches of melon mingling together, made spicier by white pepper and clove. The sugars also bring a lovely thread of homemade caramel, as well as vanilla, brown sugar, and light cream, making the bottle rim sticky. Some hints of kola nut linger in the background, along with toast crust and rising wheat dough. Hops add a tinge of citrusy grapefruit and bitter pine. As a whole, the nose is delicious, coming across like a vanilla bean ice cream sundae drizzled with caramel and fresh fruit, with just a touch of Bailey’s Irish Cream, and makes me want to reach for a spoon.

On the tongue, the beer opens with a surprisingly bitter note, the bananas and cloves joined by pink grapefruit, grapefruit rind, pine, and an almost Flemish-sour note reminiscent of fermented apple cider. The spices are immediately noticeable as well, white pepper and clove biting at the tongue. A good arrangement of alcoholic fruit esters, including mandarin orange, pineapple, banana, pear, and apple add layers of sweetness to help combat the sourness. Toast crust and biscuit float in the background, providing some small level of earthiness. The aftertaste is a continuation of the sour banana and clove notes, joined by a sudden alcoholic waft that floods the nasal cavities, the flavors lingering on the tongue for a good while. Mouthfeel is medium, and carbonation is medium-heavy, fizzing on the tongue.

Overall, this is very good beer, and certainly worthy of a 150th anniversary celebration. Chimay has taken what is already a time-tested recipe and has tweaked it to bring out massive levels of flavor and spice. It says much of the potency of these flavors that not only are they consistent over the course of several mouthfuls, but they do a nice job of masking the 10% ABV, which mainly comes out in the aftertaste, but does add a trifle-like dessert quality to the main flavors. Well worth trying.

Nice Belgian ale. A bit on the darker side than suggested but just a little brown and hazy. I enjoyed it quite a bit. A little on the sweeter side. Bubbly. Refreshing. A good Belgian ale, though not so overwhelming but I can't imagine hardly any Belgian beer fan being disappointed. A good neutral beer. Not to pale, too dark, too bitter, too sweet. Very good balance. A nice post summer sipper into the winter should roll out well with some good Django Reinhardt records especially his solo, duos and trios. Django is the greatest guitar player ever recorded.

750ml bottle. It sure ain't every day that you get to try a new Trappist offering. Best before end of 2015 - who can wait that long?!!!

This beer pours a hazy medium golden straw hue, with three fingers of aggressively puffy, loosely foamy eggshell white head, which settles at due pace, eventually leaving some blotchy patches of sudsy lace around the glass.

The bubbles in this beast, they be present, but well understated, and deftly subtle in the end, the body a decent medium weight, one toying with fullness, and smooth, for the most part, with the alcohol, spice, and hops taking a pass-over to make their individual mark on the game. It finishes on the off-dry side, as the lingering pale malt and fruit work to shed the yeast and hops, with limited success.

A stellar Tripel indeed, with the attendant complexity, and proper decency of heart to totally obfuscate the well elevated ABV for this slowly coming around non-believer. How nice. Anyhoo, a solid, full-on experience of the style, I would put forth, as the recurring theme to me here is the sleight of hand, unseen essence that gently dulls the edges, and my senses at the same time. Entirely worthy of acquiring if you like either the brewer or the style, or maybe need a reminder of why these guys are so well regarded.

App: deep gold almost amber. The color of ancient sap. Fluffy was that falls quickly to lace.

Smell: Sweet alcohol rules the aroma. Notes of orange and and the sweetness of blossom honey. A touch of tropical flower. Fruity/floral yeast.

Taste: All I can say is the sweetness of marshmallows dipped in honey with a touch of bitterness. Middle to end is the citrus found in the nose-must be the hops. Occasional dose of sweet alcohol. Honey graham cracker aftertaste. Almost perfect. Could use a bit more bitterness and it's plagued by an overly sugar flavor.

Mouthfeel: Medium body that comes from the malt and carbonation. The bubbles add body then quickly fight to be free, bursting on the tongue to add a refreshing dryness. A bit sticky, but I'll have to try some other tripels and compare.